Christmas Dinner Tradition (English version)

Family togetherness is important, the popular Italian saying "Natale con I tuoi; Pasqua conchi vuoi," which means "Christmas with your family; Easter with whomever you wish."

It has been third year for me to celebrate Christmas with my hubby's family who are Italian. Same like the years before, we went to visit my hubby's cousins family on Christmas Eve for dinner and we had what they called "The Feast of the Seven Fishes", one of my favorite dishes: Seafood!

According to the source, the long tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve dates from the Roman Catholic tradition of abstinence – in this case, refraining from the consumption of meat or milk products – on Wednesdays, Fridays and (in the Latin Church) Saturdays, as well as during Lent and on the eve of specific holy days. As no meat or butter could be used on such days, observant Catholics would instead eat fish, typically fried in oil.

The "Feast of the Seven Fishes", a celebration of Christmas Eve with meals of fish and seafood, but there may be seven, eight, or even nine specific fishes that are considered traditional. The most famous dish Southern Italians are known for is baccalà (salted cod fish). Reasons for celebrating with such a simple fish as baccalà is attributed to the greatly impoverished regions of Southern Italy. Fried smelts, calamari and other types of seafood have been incorporated into the Christmas Eve dinner over the years.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes (festa dei sette pesci), celebrated on Christmas Eve, also known as The Vigil (La Vigilia), is believed to have originated in Southern Italyand is not a known tradition in many parts of Italy. Today, it is a feast that typically consists of seven different seafood dishes. However, some Italian-American families have been known to celebrate with nine, eleven or thirteen different seafood dishes. This celebration commemorates the wait, Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus.

Why Seven (7)?

There are many hypotheses for what the number "7" represents. Seven is the most repeated number in the Bible and appears over 700 times. Throughout the Bible, this number has been known to represent perfection or completion.

It's difficult to precisely pin down the origins of the "seven fishes of Christmas Eve" that many Italian-Americans serve, and there are Three theories:

 The Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church -- baptism, penance, Holy Eucharist, confirmation, marriage, holy orders and the sacrament of the sick.

 The seven sins of the world -- pride, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth, lust and greed.

 The seven days it took Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem.

Some say it's the seven hills of Rome, some say it's the seven winds of Italy, or the Seven Wonders of the World, or 7 days for God to create the Universe.

On beautiful night of Christmas eve, at the host's new house, eleven of us were enjoyed: Smelts, Tillapia Mushroom, Cod in three different ways, Shrimp, and Crab. It was accompanied by spaghetti, bread and coleslaw. Everything was delicioso!

At the end of the night, we have beautiful holiday cookies/sweets trays like Biscotti, Cucidati, Butter Cookies, Seed Cookies, Anise Cookies, baked Chestnuts, and one of my favorite Almond Honey Nougat Candy Torrone, so delish!. Look, what I got at their box....In Cremona, Italy 1441..at the wedding of Francesco Sforza to Bianca Maria Visconti, the buffet featured a sweet made of nutmeats, honey and egg white in the shape of the famous tower of Cremona "Torrione"...hence the name Torrone. What a sweet tradition!

On Christmas day, we celebrated at my sister in law place. The dinner menu was Ravioli, the queen of all the Italian dishes. They said it was difficult to make, requiring strict adherence to the-honored technique of pasta making, and the equally daunting task of creating the perfect pasta stuffing. My sister in law helped by her son, made 1200 Ravioli!!. Some of them to be eaten later on.

Christmas dinner was an enormous undertaking as the table always was graced with at least fifteen stellar dishes and of course yummy drinks. It was similar to what I had at my grand parent's place back home in Manado. Tinoranksak, Posana, Brenebon, Pangi, RW, Kawok, Babi Putar, Ayam Bulu, Ayam Kecap, Ayam Tuturuga, Nasi Bungkus, Sayur Campur, Sate Ba', Sapi Garo, Cap Cay, unfortunately there were no seafood! Haha!


Well, on top of that, we had a terrific Christmas celebration, not because of the delicious meals, or whatever was under the tree, but because we surrounded by people we love and by people that loved us!

Special thanks to Audrey Pascoe & Adrianne Taroli-Crockett